Father Peter Kunen is an Anglican priest who now lives a jam-packed life.

"I'm really busy, I'm working, studying, five children and supporting my community in Africa.

"This is a part of my call, so I'm happy for that. Being busy is good, it keeps you active and it keeps you connected to another part of the world."

But he's walked a long and difficult path to reach this point.

"The Sudanese government came to our village and they attacked us. They came on the ground and in the air, a lot of bombardment and then they destroyed everything and I had to run away.

"I think I was 11 or 12. I had to run to Ethiopia and I had to walk for 15 days to find a place to call home, or for safety."

There, Peter spent 12 years in a refugee camp.

"Twelve years without a mother, without any relative. I had to stay there with the rest of the refugees so we lived together as refugees looked after by the United Nations, giving a little food, and some clothes, but you had to go to collect the firewood and then you had to support yourself as a refugee there.

"I found it difficult because I was a young child so you need your parents to look after you and to encourage you for your future and for your hope. So I lived in that camp without any parents and my hope was really miserable.

"But you have no choice, you have to live there, and you have to ask the United Nations if they can take you out or if some country comes and asks for refugees to resettle then you can put your story and maybe they say, 'yes, you can go to my country' or not."

After being extremely disappointed by a rejection by Canada, he moved to Kenya where he was ordained as a priest and where a friend encouraged him to apply for a humanitarian visa for Australia.

"As a young refugee you believe that God is the one that looks after you and gives you guidance and leads you. So I had hope that one day things will change. And then I was granted a visa to come to Australia."

Father Peter arrived in Australia with his wife and their first child in 2004.

"When I arrived in Melbourne Airport things were really different. The airport and the traffic and a lot of cars, I couldn't speak the language."

For five years he lived in Colac.

"I didn't know anyone, but the community of Colac's Anglican church and the Sudanese community and the Diocese of Ballarat encouraged me and looked after me. At the time I didn't have any friends, I didn't know how to drive a car, so I was encouraged by others to do all those things."

Father Peter and his wife now have five children. He says it's important they have the chance to return to Sudan one day.

"I want my children to visit after they finish school. I want them to go back with something, not just themselves. I want them to go back with education and maybe they will encourage their friends to go with their qualifications and assist the community there."

Father Peter's already returned to Sudan twice to help his village.

"We installed a water pump and a community shop and trained the local community, and we are sure in the future we will go back again."

After many years believing himself to be an orphan, Father Peter was shocked to learn this wasn't the case.

"When our enemies came to us, I was separated from my mother. I didn't know where she was. When I came to Australia, after 18 years Red Cross found my mother. And then when they gave me the news that my mother was still alive I felt that God loves me and loves my mother."

Father Peter decided to visit Sudan to see his mother.

"We had a good time. She didn't know that I was the one, and I didn't know that she was my mother but it was really a successful reunion."

He's still in touch with his local community, his church, his mother and extended family, but it's not easy to get in touch.

"We still have a connection through telephone because where they live they don't have computers or internet, they don't have running water or electricity. But if they come to the nearest country, Ethiopia, they call me and then I call them."

After completing his studies in theology, in 2009 the diocese of Ballarat asked Father Peter to move here - the biggest place he's called home.

"Ballarat is a big city. My village is in a really rural area - no school, no hospital, no running water. In Ballarat, everything is here, so it's a big city to me."

He says he loves most things about Ballarat.

"I love the people so it's a very good community, but I don't like the winter. In South Sudan, where I come from, it could be 20 to 25 or 30 degrees, not less than 10."

As well as carrying out his duties as an assistant priest, Father Peter works as a liaison and advocate for the local African community.

"When we arrived we came with nothing so most of us we don't speak English, we don't know how to get assistance, so I work just making a connection between the African community and the local community and community organisations."

He also works with young Sudanese people.

"We bring the children together so they learn soccer or Aussie Rules or basketball or tennis so they make friendships through that among themselves and also with the wider community.

"Ballarat Grammar looks after the Sudanese community, so we use the hall, their facilities and there's some students who come and mentor our young people, so they learn a lot from that."

Father Peter says he believes Ballarat's a good place for refugees to settle and he thinks more should be resettled here. Since he arrived in Australia is 2004, he says attitudes towards the African refugee community have improved.

"I think there's a few issues for Sudanese youth but I think the attitude of the wider community has changed. When you first arrive in the community people look at you, you don't have good English so you don't have any friends or your colour is different.

"But now the attitude has changed because we are now part of the community and we contribute to the Australian community as well."